We’re delighted that you’ve applied to join New College Doncaster in September – thank you for attending your interview with us. The college’s popularity has grown year-on-year, with record enrolment last September. This reflects the college’s Ofsted ‘outstanding’ rating, very strong results both for A level and applied general courses and strong progression to great universities and high-quality apprenticeships. We’re proud of our students, our staff, our high academic standards and our culture. New College is a great place not just to achieve fantastic results, but also as a place in which you can flourish as a young adult. This is the first in a series of booklets we’re preparing for you, to give you a flavour of things to come.
My role in college is to work closely with teachers to ensure we are continually developing our teaching practice, drawing on the latest research and evidence to ensure we are using methods known to lead to the best results. I also ensure we are providing students with the study skills you need to thrive during your time at college: strategies for organisation and revision which have proven success. I am an English teacher and feel very fortunate that I will get to share my love of Literature and Language with some of you.
My main role in college is quality and standards, working to ensure that teachers have high expectations of all students, and that they put in place effective support and intervention to help you meet and exceed these expectations. In addition, I also co-ordinate the college’s careers strategy to ensure that you are well supported in preparing for your next steps after college, through a range of activities that includes speakers from a range of universities, employers and apprenticeship providers. I am a Chemistry teacher, and look forward to sharing my passion for the sciences with those of you who choose this route at New College.
Dan Wood,Students at New College Doncaster experience a culture of very high expectations, which supports them to maximise their potential and achieve their aspirations.
Ofsted, December 2021
We are extremely proud of the outstanding results our students achieve at New College Doncaster.
99.6% A level Pass Rate
99.2% Applied General Pass Rate
Average
Value added / progress: Significantly stronger than schools and colleges nationally.
61.8% A level A* - B Rate
Value added / progress: Stronger than schools and colleges nationally.
78.9% Applied General Distinction*
In the most recent performance tables published by the Department for Education in 2019, New College Doncaster was the highest performing A level provider in Doncaster. No other school or college achieved an ‘above average’ progress score for A level qualifications.
You can compare results of different schools and colleges here:
Our central mission is to help students to progress to the very best universities, apprenticeships and jobs when they leave us at the end of Year 13, with the outstanding results, skills and confidence they need to succeed.
70% of our Year 13 students last year progressed to higher education.
Whether you want to progress to university, into a high-quality apprenticeship, or move straight into work, New College Doncaster will help you make well-informed decisions about your future. You will be supported through the weekly tutorial programme, by your progress tutor, by your teachers and by our careers team. Throughout your time at college, you’ll have lots of opportunities to talk to universities and apprenticeship providers, and we’ll support you to make decisions about where to apply, what to apply for, and we will help you with your applications. We’ll also help answer questions you and your parents may have about issues such as student finance, the university admissions process, or where to find vacancies for the best apprenticeships and jobs.
We participate in a significant number of outreach and widening participation programmes with universities. Additional support and programmes are available for students interested in highly competitive courses such as medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, for courses and universities that have additional entrance tests, and for particularly selective universities such as Oxford and Cambridge.
Most popular university courses for 2022 New College entrants:
• Business / Management.
• Psychology.
• Law / Criminology.
• Sport and Exercise / Sport Coaching / Sport Rehabilitation.
• Primary Education.
• Nursing / Midwifery.
Examples of recent New College progression to higher or degree apprenticeships:
• Accountant – Ernst and Young.
• Civil Engineer – Volker Rail.
• Economist – Department for Work and Pensions.
• Police Officer – South Yorkshire Police.
Leaders have a very clear intent to provide a curriculum that includes a wide range of high-quality A level and level 3 general applied programmes for young people living in Doncaster and the surrounding area. They aim to raise the aspirations of young people, provide high-quality provision and increase the number of students progressing to higher education, apprenticeships and employment. Leaders successfully achieve this aim.
Ofsted, December 2021
Students benefit from very high-quality teaching. Teachers demonstrate a very comprehensive knowledge of their subjects and communicate this well to students. They successfully develop students’ understanding of the technical terminology used in their subject areas. As a result, students quickly develop the new knowledge that they need when they leave college.
Ofsted, December 2021
As a specialist 16-19 provider which delivers only A levels and A level equivalent courses, we are able to recruit and train teachers with the particular skills and subject knowledge needed to teach effectively at this advanced level.
What can you expect in terms of teaching and learning?
• Regular assessment and feedback
• Because recall deepens learning, and assessment helps students to focus their efforts in the right places.
• Extra help and support
• Helping to guide your next steps, and providing extra support if you need it.
• High standards and a culture of learning
• Our students take pride in the quality of their work and behaviour, punctuality and attendance are exemplary.
• Carefully designed courses
• Introducing content in manageable chunks, gradually building knowledge and skills towards more complex concepts and topics, regularly revisiting older topics.
• Regular teacher training
• So that your teachers use ideas and techniques that deliver the best possible results.
• We help students understand how to be effective independent learners
• Because it’s not just about what happens in the classroom.
Regular formal assessments help our students develop a good understanding of their strengths and areas for development throughout their 2-year journey. Assessments cover wide-ranging topics, helping students to reinforce their knowledge and skills across the full breadth of the course, preparing students well for the final exams. Alongside formal assessments are small, helpful mini-tests, quizzes and retrieval activities to help check knowledge and reinforce learning. Students also complete an initial assessment early in Year 12 which helps to identify any support needs, and to check that students have made good course choices.
Students, parents and teachers track how students are performing in relation to each student’s minimum target grades – challenging but achievable targets based on the range of grades each student achieved at GCSE.
Our Teacher Access Periods on Wednesday afternoons provide additional small-group support for students that teachers feel would particularly benefit. Students at New College Doncaster use their independent study periods very effectively, using the many study spaces available within the college. But we know that some students also benefit from having some of their independent study periods timetabled into our supervised Intervention Support Centre, providing structure and quiet focus. Teachers work hard to provide detailed feedback following assessments, signposting additional resources, identifying additional support where it’s needed, and providing students time to self-reflect on their next steps.
Students benefit from excellent pastoral and academic support. This includes targeted interventions to ensure that any students who are behind target very quickly catch up. For example, ‘teacher access periods’ are added to all curriculum plans. Teachers use this time well to support individual students to improve specific aspects of their learning.
Ofsted, December 2021
Teachers challenge students to be the best that they can be, to have very high levels of attendance and punctuality, and to develop strong, independent learning skills. This culture prepares students exceptionally well to progress to their next steps.
Ofsted, December 2021
We want to make sure that students have the independent study skills, the confidence and the wider social and personal skills needed to thrive at university and in the work place.
All of our courses are designed to include at least six opportunities to enrich learning and to support progression. For example:
• Economics students this year will visit the Bank of England and the Houses of Parliament.
• BTEC Sport students will attend a trip to Manchester United looking at business in sport.
• Politics students will participate in a talk with a Russell Group university about studying International Relations.
• Health and Social Care students will participate in a talk with the NHS about careers opportunities.
These wide-ranging opportunities help to inspire students, to understand how their courses link to future study and employment, and to inform students about future options. These opportunities at course level sit alongside an extensive extra-curricular programme outside of lessons.
Our teachers actively promote key employability skills through their teaching – organisation, problem-solving, team work, initiative and communication. Our teachers help students become increasingly independent learners and ready for university and the work-place. Directed Independent Learning, which is the next level of homework, is a key part of being a student at New College Doncaster.
A dedicated Careers Advisor and Work Experience Coordinator help provide individual guidance and assistance organising valuable work placements.
Critically, able students need to be confident that they will achieve outstanding results in order to progress to the most competitive universities. We are proud that gifted and able students at New College Doncaster make exceptional progress. The value added for able students with average GCSE point scores of 6.9 and above in 2022 was +0.20 compared with sixth form colleges nationally, which typically already perform better than schools. This means that around a fifth of all A level grades were higher than similarly qualified students achieved in other sixth form colleges. Students that achieve 7, 8, 9 results at GCSE achieve better results at New College Doncaster than nationally. The proportion of able students achieving A* grades at A level at New College Doncaster exceeds national rates.
We are delighted to have this year been nominated as the lead provider for South Yorkshire for ‘HE Plus’ – a project working with schools and colleges to support students applying to elite universities, including Oxford and Cambridge. This project complements the college’s existing work to support students applying to elite universities, to support students applying for medicine, dentistry and veterinary science, and to support students interested in Oxbridge.
Alongside their studies, students have the opportunity to take part in a research skills extra-curricular programme which can lead on to the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) – an opportunity for students to research, prepare a paper and deliver a presentation on an academic subject of their own interest, whilst achieving a qualification that is particularly helpful for students progressing to elite research universities. Our extra-curricular programme also includes a number of subject programmes through which students can start to explore introductory university level content, or subject content that sits beyond the scope of their current courses.
New College Doncaster has a strong track record of supporting good rates of progression to Russell Group universities and to Oxford and Cambridge.
Most popular competitive university destinations 2022:
• Durham University.
• Imperial College – University of London.
• University College – University of London.
Most students progress to higher education, including to prestigious universities. The number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who progress to higher education is particularly high.
Ofsted, December 2021
Jake Powell
Hungerhill School
Degree Apprenticeship in Engineering & Manufacturing Technologies with Volker Rail
Cory Whitehead
Ridgewood School
Degree Apprenticeship in Health, Public Services & Care with South Yorkshire Police and Sheffield Hallam University
James Pope
Armthorpe Academy
Degree Apprenticeship in Business, Administration & Law with Department of Work & Pensions
Hassan Ali Hayfield School
Degree Apprenticeship in Health, Public Services & Care with South Yorkshire Police and Sheffield Hallam University
Grace Irwin
McAuley Catholic High School
Higher Level Apprenticeship in Retail and Commercial Enterprise with ASDA Business Services
Scott Campbell
Serlby Park Academy
Higher Level Apprenticeship in Leisure, Travel & Tourism with Styrrup Hall Golf Club
Kyle Frisby
Hungerhill School
Higher Level Apprenticeship in Construction, Planning & the Built Environment with Devcom
Mackenzie Hackford
The Laurel Academy
Higher Level Apprenticeship in Education & Training with Rotherham Primary Network
